Phases of the Moon
by rains.in.spain
Summary: Sirius Black is falling in love with Remus Lupin. He just doesn't know it yet. (Marauders Era)
1. DARK MOON

Sirius Black didn't know when this nonsense with Remus had started.

One moment everything was as usual and the next he would get a hot twisting sensation in his lower belly whenever Remus shot him a knowing look and said something along the lines of "_I hope you're not going to misbehave._" This line was usually prefaced before James and Sirius had concocted something or the other to do: a new spell they wanted to try out on Snivelly, relabelling Moaning Myrtle's toilet so that unsuspecting first year boys wandered in, or simply hiding under James' cloak and tripping Filch in the middle of the night.

The funny thing about Remus was that he'd always have this tone of mock seriousness when it came to the pranks. Remus was mostly serious anyway-sometimes even comically so. He'd warn them of 'grave consequences' or ask them whether they still thought this was a good idea, or go about ways to attract attention to the shiny golden prefect badge on his chest as if it was some sort of sentient object he had sworn his loyalty to. But when it came time to the actual pranking, Sirius found out very quickly that Remus joined in eagerly and often times it was _him_ they had to drag back before they got found out.

So there was something about the way Remus was saying this line ("I hope you're not going to misbehave") that implied that Remus himself was _definitely_ planning on misbehaving. And that, to be frank, excited Sirius a little. To know that even the most responsible and straight-laced among his friends had a bit of a mischievous streak. Or was it _because_ he was the most responsible?

"Oh, Moony," Sirius would reply (after his stomach had relaxed a little), "I wouldn't worry about me misbehaving. I would worry about _you_. Merlin knows you've got a bit of reputation to maintain, being such a _perfect prefect._"

Sirius would say this loudly, of course, to the Gryffindor common room so that everyone would hear and glance over at Remus, embarrassing him, and wonder if he was as innocent as they thought.

For the rest of the day, Sirius couldn't get that stupid phrase out of his head. In Transfiguration, when they'd been practicing vanishing spells on dinner plates, Sirius had absently flicked his wand in the direction of his trousers and nearly made them disappear, much to amusement of James who was sniggering beside him.

He must have flashed half the class when his trousers vanished for half a second because the next thing he knew there was a slow wolf-whistle coming from behind him. Sirius whipped around, wand at the ready to jinx whichever Slytherin it had been and was surprised to find _Remus_ standing right behind him, smirking into his dinner plate as if he hadn't any clue that Sirius had just lost his trousers.

"Did you like my knickers, Moony?" Sirius muttered under his breath, watching Remus' ears turn pink.

"Careful," said Remus in a low voice as he flicked his wrist and successfully vanished the plate in front of him. "Or I might try this spell out on your trousers."

_Oh, I wouldn't mind_, Sirius thought for a second before smirking smugly and turning around. He'd no idea where the thought had come from but it wasn't as if he was embarrassed by his boxers. In fact, they were his favourite: midnight blue with small animated figures on broomsticks who were engaged in a very intense game of Quidditch. If you managed to slap down the snitch (which was a tiny golden speck whizzing about), the score displayed on the waistband of his boxers would reset and the game began all over again. Totally useless, but very entertaining.

After Transfiguration, the four of them raced down the sloping greenish-yellow hill of the grounds towards the lake. It was early October and the air was getting chillier. Yet, most of the students had forced themselves outside in hopes of enjoying the last bits of sunshine and relatively warm weather before they'd all be shut indoors for the winter.

"I know Evans has been particularly frosty towards me this week, but just you wait." James said, lazily plucking up dying blades of grass and flicking them into the wind. "It's all part of their game to appear more mysterious."

"Or perhaps it's because Evans knows what a complete nitwit you are, James?" Sirius offered helpfully, making sure to stay an arms length away as he said this to avoid getting slapped.

But James didn't seem bothered by this remark. Instead, he lay his head down on the grass, closed his eyes and smiled. "Oh, they may act that way now. I've learned a thing or two over the summer about how to charm even the most difficult of women."

Sirius seriously doubted this but was pleased to see that Peter was sitting bolt upright and looking expectantly at James, waiting desperately for him to elaborate. Sirius caught Remus' eye and they both bit their tongues from laughing.

"Well, go on then, James." Remus egged on, sneaking another conspiratorial look at Sirius. "Tell us what you've learned."

Peter nodded his head vigorously though James still had his eyes closed and missed this eagerness entirely.

"Well, it's not really about _what_ you say, is it? It's _how_ you say it. Take Snivellus, for example. I'd spent half my existence wondering how that slimy, snivelling little toad managed to get in the good graces of Evans and then it occurred to me: of course, Snivellus can't have said anything remotely charming to her. But he's always crying about something, isn't he? And just like, she's always defending him and fussing about."

Peter looked as though he'd had a moment of enlightenment and was turning beet red. He would do anything to make sure James continued to reveal his best kept secrets of wooing women but was too embarrassed to say so. He looked over at Remus and Sirius for support but both of them were oddly smiling about something and looking at random points in the distance.

"Interesting observation, Prongs." Sirius said. "May I also add that in my numerous experiences with girls, it's also wise to show your vulnerabilities early. Get out there and just cry buckets of tears. Talk about a tragic back story that will captivate them. They'll want to snog you immediately. Isn't that right, James?"

James opened one eye and peered suspiciously in Sirius' direction. When he noticed that Peter was practically drooling over him, he closed his eyes again and suppressed a smile.

"Quite right, Padfoot. Take Peter here, for example. If he were to go over to Margot Tinfoote and just cry about something-anything-she would be besotted with him instantly."

"Oh, come off it," said Peter, looking slightly annoyed. "Now you're just spouting rubbish."

"See that's what I thought too," Sirius continued, trying his best to keep a straight face. "I thought girls only fancied Quidditch players and muscles but they're creatures of emotion, aren't they? Say, if any one of those girls knew about Moony and his monthly angst, they'd all want to shag him, wouldn't they?"

Here, Sirius reached out towards Remus and squeezed him affectionately around the nape of his neck. It took an enormous about of self-control for Remus not to burst into laughter but somehow he held his composure by concentrating intently on the solemn occasion of when he'd nearly lost his eye messing about the Whomping Willow in his second year.

Peter looked shocked for a moment and then sent a calculating look over at a group of fifth-year girls who were laughing in the distance.

"Well, don't just sit there and stew, Wormtail," Sirius said encouragingly. "Go up to one of them and try snivelling about something. I heard it worked pretty well for our large-nosed friend in Slytherin."

"Maybe later. Not with all of you lot watching."

* * *

><p>"You shouldn't have told him so much rubbish." Remus told him later in the common room.<p>

Sirius and James had just gotten back from a particularly terrible Quidditch practice and neither of them were in the mood to do anything productive afterwards. James had set off to bed early, saying he was too tired to bother with anything, leaving Sirius and Remus alone in front of the fireplace. Peter was uncharacteristically nowhere to be see, though they both had an idea of where he might be.

As he was saying this, Sirius noted that Remus didn't look altogether apologetic. He looked as he usually did-with his head bent down at an extreme angle into his Transfiguration textbook, except that this time Sirius was sure that there was a small smirk on his face.

"Do you think that's why our fourth musketeer has suddenly vanished?"

Remus said nothing, but pretended to keep reading.

"You really are the worst prefect, Moony. You pretend as though you've had nothing to do with any of this but _you're_ the one that egged James on, remember?"

"Oh, I wasn't really egging James on. I just wanted to know some of those secrets myself."

"You're full of doxy shit." Sirius said, laughing and leaning back into the chair. He noted that Remus didn't bother to correct him on this. "And who would you use your charms on, anyway? Anyone you fancy?"

The thought of Remus fancying someone was not so foreign to Sirius. He wasn't like James, who was open about who he wanted to snog; but that was more to mark his territory more than anything else. Remus on the other hand wasn't the type to kiss and tell.

Remus looked up from his book just then and shot Sirius what some might call a 'smouldering' look.

"You, obviously."

Sirius knew it was a joke but that familiar knotting sensation was back in his stomach again for the fourth time that week. For the first time, Sirius was slow to banter back. He didn't know why (he was known for his quick wit, after all) but instead of saying something back he just settled for a smirk and sunk deeper into the couch.

The gesture seemed to have surprised Remus too, for his ears turned slightly pink again in the firelight and he cleared his throat and turned back to his book. But unlike earlier in the conversation, his eyes no longer scanned the page as he was deep in thought. And so each boy sat in silence for the rest of the evening, silently and secretly pondering on the other.

_**Author's Note:** Hello, everyone! ^.^ This the first fanfic I've ever written and would really appreciate your thoughts on it! Thanks so much to everyone who's already reviewed/faved/followed it so far! It means so much to me that you enjoyed reading this as much as I loved writing it :) _


	2. Waxing Crescent

A day after the fireplace incident (as Sirius was calling it in his head these days), Sirius found himself alone with Remus again in the library. It was not as though things were ever awkward between them after the incident but Sirius hoped that nothing like it would ever happen again.

Remus, for the most part, had assumed it was a rare slump in Sirius' otherwise quick wit. What else would it have been? So both boys were happy to ignore the embarrassing conversation and move on with their lives.

They had Charms paper due later that day and Remus had nearly finished his 3rd revisions. Sirius, predictably, had barely started.

"You know I'm just rubbish at Charms."

"Not true," Remus was quick to point out. "You've done perfectly well during all the practicals."

"Fine. Then I'm just rubbish at writing papers."

"Wouldn't be if you just started on time."

Sirius threw him an annoyed look but he was too busy bent over his parchment to notice. Idly, he wondered whether James planned on finishing the paper or whether he was going to pretend he injured his arm during Quidditch to get out of it-an excuse he'd been saving to use all year. Peter, on the other hand, unfortunately lacked James' creativity, Remus' intellect, and Sirius' prowess of writing down rubbish (half copied from Remus, no less) and hoping for the best.

"You know, I do worry about Peter sometimes." Sirius said, casually, hoping Remus would take the bait. The previous night, Peter was the last to arrive to their dormitory just as the two of them had decided to head to bed (James was already snoring by this point, having gone to sleep earlier). Both Sirius and Remus were still awake, lying in their beds when Peter had quietly tip toed back into the room, his face blotchy in the moonlight from crying it seemed. But there was no mistaking the triumphant smile on his face.

"Well," Remus said, smiling a little but not looking up from his parchment. "who do you think he'd tried your stupid advice on?"

"Margot Tinfoote, obviously! James practically handpicked her for him, didn't he? The question is, did it actually work?"

The pair of them slowly turned to look at a group of Gryffindor girls who were friends with Margot sitting in the aisle of tables opposite. A few of them, having noticed Sirius glancing their way, turned about thirty different shades of red and started giggling excitedly.

Remus, who was used to the effect Sirius seemed to have on girls after being his friend for five years, smiled knowingly and turned back to face him.

"Well, if it _did_ work, then that would be really pathetic wouldn't it?"

"What would be pathetic?"

"I mean, if Wormtail got himself a girl-following your stupid advice, no less-then that would make me the lone wolf."

He knew Remus was joking; come to think on it, Sirius could hardly remember the last time Remus seemed hung up or concerned about a girl. They somehow seemed to bounce off his radar. Still, Sirius wanted to blurt out how wrong he was.

"You've got to be kidding, Moony. You're a total dreamboat. If I was a girl, I'd fancy snogging you."

He said the words without really thinking about them, but neither of them batted an eyelash. Sirius had said these kinds of things to Remus from time to time, sometimes even in public to embarrass him further. This time Remus shot him that look again. That _"I hope you're not going to misbehave"_ look that caused all those bloody knots.

"Careful, Black. Snogging a prefect can cost you house points."

"Even if I was an excellent kisser?"

"I think I should be the judge of that seeing it as it hardly counts for anything if _you're_ the one who's claiming to be an excellent kisser."

"Fine, then want to have a go at it?"

Sirius moved his hand and pressed it on his friend's knee. Suddenly Remus looked as though he'd swallowed a very large melon that was now stuck in his throat. After a second, Remus laughed (or did he just giggle?) and turned a bit red himself-not unlike the group of girls who were sitting opposite. He had just opened his mouth to say something when James appeared behind him with his arm in a sling.

"Are you two going to shag tonight or are you going to actually finish that Charms paper?"

Sirius looked back at Remus, his hand still on his knee, and said very loudly so that the whole library could hear: "I was really hoping to shag Remus, to be honest."

The group of girls sitting opposite suddenly turned to look at them (along with every other group in proximity) and burst into shrieks of laughter. James rolled his eyes and settled into the empty chair between them, forcing Sirius to let go of his grip. He could still feel the hard muscle in Remus' leg where he'd held him and it was making him feel lightheaded all of a sudden.

"Well, don't let my presence stop you." James said, turning to either of them, who had strangely fallen quiet. "Go on, then! Clearly I was interrupting something saucy."

Remus, who was trying not to smile, his face still somewhat flushed, turned back over to this Charms paper but didn't get much revision done. Sirius rolled his eyes at James and said "I see you've broken your arm."

"Oh, my arm really is killing me!" James cried, feigning pain as he pressed his arm to his chest. "If only I hadn't injured it so badly beyond magical repair during Quidditch practice then I really could have finished this Charms paper that I was _so eager_ to get started on. Such a shame."

Sirius kicked the leg of his chair muttering "Stupid git."

"Jealous, Padfoot? Now that you actually have to write yours and I don't?"

"I guess I'm just miffed that it was my idea in the first place to pretend breaking an arm and now you've stolen it."

"You can break your arm too if you like." James offered, tilting back his chair so that it balanced on the back legs.

"We can't very well _both_ break our arms a day before the paper is due, you prat. It'd be too obvious."

"Then maybe a leg then? Or get Moony here to hit you with that Spotting Hex. It'll almost look like you've got Spattergroit."

"I'll do no such thing." Remus said. He was a prefect, after all.

"Of course Moony would never raise a wand to hurt his lover, would he?" Sirius said as he and James both watched their friend turn redder in the face. Remus muttered something under his breath that sounded a lot like "twats" before standing up and gathering his things.

"Leaving your lover so soon, Moony? I'm disappointed. We didn't even get to snog properly."

"Well I can hardly get any work done with you distracting me, Sirius. Besides, I was pretty much done anyway." He did not say this unkindly but Sirius could tell that something was bothering him. He did a quick doubling charm on his own paper and handed one copy to Sirius, telling him not to copy anything word for word before saying goodbye to the both of them and heading back towards the Gryffindor common room.

When Remus was out of earshot, James tutted his friend. "Looks like you harassed him too much this time, Padfoot."

"Harassed him?!" Sirius replied, half-laughing. "You know he's the one who instigates it. He flirts back most of the time anyway."

James cocked an eyebrow, clearly unconvinced. "Oh, really?"

"Yes, really. Just not when you're here. He's shy about his affections for me."

"Hmm," said James, scanning the copy of parchment Remus had left behind. "That's clearly why he's left you a copy of his paper with all the his words written backwards."

Sirius snatched up the parchment out of his hands and scanned it himself. "Well, he does have a temper sometimes. Especially when it's close to _that time of the month_."

James smirked at him but didn't bother mentioning that it was actually nowhere near that time of the month when Remus was forced to transform into a savage animal. Instead he simply surveyed his friend with that smirk riding further up his lips.

"What are you smiling about?"

"Oh, nothing. Just that I've noticed you seemed to have spent more time flirting with Moony than you normally do. Some of those girls you usually chat up are starting to feel a bit neglected. They've even been asking _Wormtail_ about you. Anything you want to confess?"

This was the first time James had explicitly addressed the ongoing mock flirting between Sirius and Remus. Sirius couldn't remember when it had started but he'd pretty much always been that way with Remus ever since he discovered how much fun it was to tease him. And how much more exciting it was when Remus played along. Now that he was perfect, there were even more things Remus could pretend to threaten Sirius with that made the whole thing much more fun. James had never found this odd, sometimes even encouraging them to continue on in his presence much to Remus' mortification.

Sirius thought about telling him about the knots he sometimes got in his stomach and then thought that was probably the dumbest idea he could think of. Instead he shrugged his shoulders. "Our love isn't any of your business, Prongs."

"It is if you two share a room with me!" James said suggestively. Suddenly, unbidden to his mind, came images of Remus and himself, sprawled across the white sheets of their dormitory bed. Sirius must have turned bright red at these thoughts (he'd again had no idea where they'd come from or why they were there) because James stopped laughing for a second and shot him a quizzical look.

"You know, I expect that kind of blushing from Moony, but not from you."

James had said this in an even tone, testing the waters. He was neither joking nor was he being entirely serious about it. If anything, he seemed curious about it. Sirius was determined not to lose his cool this time as he didn't want a repeat of what had happened between himself and Remus the previous night by the fireplace where he felt he might have given himself away. Yet, his mind felt blank.

James was starting to question his friend's silence. He leaned forward to try and meet Sirius' gaze because, for some reason, he was pretending to be extremely interested in desk in front of them.

"Merlin's saggy left ballsack, Padfoot! Have you actually got a bit of a crush on Moony?"

"What?" Sirius felt as though James had just punched him in the gut. "No, of course I haven't!" As he said the words, however, he started to wonder why they didn't quite feel true. "Well...no, I haven't got a crush on Moony. It's _Moony_, for God's sake. But...I don't know."

James was silent for a moment. "You know, it's alright if you do. I'm your best mate."

Sirius looked up at James, considering what he should say. Though, to be frank, he wasn't even sure _what_ exactly he felt for Remus. All he had was strange sensations in his stomach when he least expected them and images too, apparently.

"Well, I dunno." He replied. "Sometimes I just feel funny around him. You don't think that makes me loony do you?"

"No, I don't think that makes you loony." James said, his serious face slowing becoming filled with mischief. "But I think I've finally worked out how you can get out of writing this paper."

"A bit irrelevant, Prongs, but okay?"

"Isn't it obvious? You've gone and got yourself sick with Moony Fever!"

Sirius rolled his eyes and kicked the back leg of the chair James had tilted himself on, sending him crashing to the floor. "Prat."

_**Author's Note:**__ Thanks so much to everyone who left a review/faved/followed! I'm so delighted you've decided to follow along ^.^ _


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